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Professional wrestling matches - WWE or otherwise - are performed (for the most part) in order to tell a story. WWE is just like any other kind of theater - it has a beginning, middle, and end, as well as lore set beforehand to frame the scenario. The wrestlers are characters and, if the match is done properly, those characters will evolve as the story continues.
The point being that the end of a match - or even a series of matches - is the payoff to a story being told. Like any other story, the way a match ends is important in the larger scenario. Which is where this list comes in.
This is just another way of saying that the WWE match endings on this list aren't us saying "the wrong person won" or anything that basic. It's us saying "we don't care who won, but the way they won is really stupid." You may not agree, but that's what we're going for.
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For this particular list - and it's a list that is by no means comprehensive - we're sticking with WWE matches (save for a couple of honorable mentions). Of course, we have no doubt you have other match endings you think should be here, and we invite you to share those in the comments section below.
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Anyway, let's get to it. But first, here's a couple of non-WWE things.
Honorable non-WWE mentions: a poke of a finger and a wet fart of an explosion
On Monday, January 4, 1999, recently crowned WCW World Champion Kevin Nash was scheduled to defend his newly won belt against the man he defeated for it, Goldberg. Nash would instead take on his fellow nWo co-founder, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. Hulk hadn't been seen on WCW television for weeks.
Throughout the episode, the announcers hyped up this "once in a lifetime" match and what it meant to the "history of our sport" and things like that. Well, when it came time for the match to happen, it went down like this:
That may be the most disappointing match finish ever. It's only because it took place in WCW that it isn't included on this list.
Also, the ending of the Kenny Omega/Jon Moxley Barbed Wire Deathmatch from AEW Revolution earlier this year. Yeah, it's easy to pile on the ending of this bout, considering how great it was up to that point but... come on...
Anyway, let's get to the list...
#5. Sting vs Triple H - WWE WrestleMania 31
WCW legend Sting was probably the biggest name from that company to have never - up to that point - signed with WWE in any capacity. In fact, the former WCW World Champion decided to work for rival company TNA (now Impact) Wrestling rather than work for Vince McMahon.
However, the lure of a WrestleMania match was just too hard to resist.
Sting's one and only WWE WrestleMania bout
In 2014, during the main event of that year's Survivor Series, Sting made his WWE debut and focused his intentions on Triple H, then the leader of The Authority. That led to a match between the two at WrestleMania 31, Sting's one and only appearance at the iconic event.
The match ended with Triple H hitting Sting with part of a broken sledgehammer - following a whole bunch of insanity that involved both D-Generation X and the nWo. The two combatants would eventually shake hands in the middle of the ring.
As we stated before, it's the fact that Sting lost that puts this match on the list. Sting had held off on working for WWE for well over a decade, worried about how the company would make him look after working for the competition for so long. The fact that Triple H wound up with the victory - no matter how it played out - was one of the most unsatisfying endings in WrestleMania history.
WWE tried to balance things out by giving Sting a program where he challenged for the WWE Championship, but his first title match saw him severely injured to the point that he temporarily retired from the business.
Don't get me wrong - the match between Triple H and Sting at WrestleMania 31 is a lot of fun to watch, even today - even with that ending. But, there's no doubt that Sting walking away with the L was the wrong way to go, and definitely puts it at least at number five on this list.
Now, let's move on to the rest of the entries that adhere to the rules we set-up earlier.
#4. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Valasquez - Crown Jewel 2019
When Brock Lesnar left WWE in 2004, following a much-maligned match against Goldberg at WWE WrestleMania XX, he initially decided to try his hand at American Football. However, being cut during the final round of off-season training camp by the Minnesota Vikings put a halt to those plans. Instead of turning back around and returning to the company, he decided to try his hand at MMA, and joined the UFC.
You might recall that this choice worked out pretty well for him.
While Lesnar would go on to become UFC Heavyweight Champion, he had some growing pains to get through in the beginning. After winning his first bout against Mark Hunt in 2016 (a win later ruled a no-contest after Lesnar failed a doping test), he lost his next two bouts. The second of these bouts was against another former heavyweight champ, Cain Velasquez.
Lesnar vs Velasquez 2 - the WWE version
When Velasquez appeared on the first episode of SmackDown on the Fox network and confronted Lesnar following his WWE Championship victory over Kofi Kingston, fans were anxious to see a rematch between the two fighters. That rematch became a reality when, at a press conference in Las Vegas, it was announced it would take place at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.
When the actual match took place, however, the outcome was significantly different. Within minutes of the opening bell, Lesnar applied a Kamura Lock on Velasquez, forcing his rival to tap out immediately. And... that was it. Weeks of hype and build-up led to a match that was over faster than the time it took me to look up and make sure I was spelling "Kimura Lock" correctly.
Cain never appeared for WWE following that match, as he was released from the company during the wave of firings the company implemented following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a run as disappointing as the finish of his only WWE match.
#3. Brock Lesnar vs Kofi Kingston - Friday Night SmackDown (October 10, 2019)
Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship win over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 was the exact opposite of this list. It was a cathartic feel-good moment willed into existence by the fans. In essence, not disappointing. Kofi's championship reign that followed was also pretty satisfying, as he fended off challengers such as Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton in some pretty impressive bouts.
Of course, nothing lasts forever. Everyone knew that, like any championship reign, Kofi's time with the belt was limited, and he was going to drop it to somebody eventually. And when Brock Lesnar made a surprise appearance on SmackDown to challenge him, most of us just went "well, there we go."
WWE SmackDown's debut on Fox needed a big main event
Kofi Kingston vs Brock Lesnar was the main event of the very first WWE SmackDown on the Fox television network. For all intents and purposes, it certainly felt like even if Kofi was to drop his title on this night, we'd at least get a great match before he did. This was Kofi Kingston, for crying out loud - he could have a match against a birdfeeder and it would at the very least get three stars from Dave Meltzer.
Instead, the bell rang and ten seconds later, we had a new champion.
Fans were understandably upset. After all, WWE not only put the title on the 11 year veteran, but also gave him a strong title reign. And, sure, this was Broooooock Leeesssssnarrrr we were talking about. But, to have him go out in ten seconds just to make room for the debut of Lesnar's UFC rival (remember the previous entry?) felt like a kick in the gut from a company that suddenly seemed that they were finally listening to their audience.
In the end, Kofi Kingston held the WWE Championship, and won it competing in one of the best WrestleMania matches in history - and that's something not even Brock Lesnar can take away from him.
#2. Triple H vs Booker T - WrestleMania XIX
After World Championship Wrestling lost the Monday Night Wars to WWE in 2001, the five-time (five-time five-time five-time five-time) WCW World Champion Booker T was one of the few big-name stars from the company to come to WWE.
With names like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Goldberg, and Sting all staying at home and collecting on their Time-Warner contracts, WWE needed whatever marquee talent from WCW they could get if they wanted their Invasion angle to mean anything.
When the dust (thankfully) finally settled on that storyline, Booker found himself in a position to try and replicate the singles success he had in WCW, but this time in WWE. And, at WrestleMania XIX, it looked as if he was going to get it. Which was good, because he was being put through some garbage leading up to the show.
At the time, the World Heavyweight Championship was being held by Triple H during an era in WWE history that fans playfully and cheerfully refer to as the "Reign of Terror." The Game had an iron grip on the championship, and fans were anxious to see someone, anyone, put him in his place.
Booker T won a 20-man battle royale on Raw - eliminating The Rock of all people - to gain a title match against Triple H at WWE WrestleMania. Trips would verbally run down Booker with comments about Booker's criminal past (that some felt leaned a little toward being racist) and how his five reigns as WCW Champion were a "joke." Or, as Braden Farrell of ProWrestlingStories.com put it:
Triple H retaining on paper, the act of him simply winning the match, isn’t what outraged fans. It was the way the feud was built up in connection with the result of the match. The promos by Triple H were incredibly racially motivated. The build-up was incredulous and was built up in such a way that anything other than a Booker T victory would be shameful.
Yeah, the fans were ready to see Booker T knock Triple H's block off.
The match itself was actually quite good, all things considered. All of that would be washed away, however, when Triple H landed the Petigree on Booker. Both men laid motionless on the mat... for thirty entire seconds. Then, The Game would crawl his way over to the challenger... and pin him for the win.
After all that build up, all the promos with the racist undertones, and with nearly the entire crowd on Booker T's side, Triple H won. If WWE were determined to send the crowd home happy that night, it's a good thing this match didn't close the show.
#1. Seth Rollins vs Bray Wyatt - Hell In a Cell 2019
If you thought the ending to the main event of this past Sunday's WWE Extreme Rules PPV was kinda dumb, you might want to sit down for this last entry. This is a prime example of WWE painting itself into a corner - and nobody got out of this without paint on their feet.
Bray Wyatt's reinvention of himself, from swamp-dwelling cult leader with vague magic powers to a sociopathic children's TV show host version of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, was nothing short of a revelation. It didn't take long for "The Fiend" to become the most talked-about character not just in WWE, but all of wrestling in general.
After weeks of randomly attacking other superstars, The Fiend had his debut match at SummerSlam 2019 against Finn Balor - a match he won pretty decisively. So popular was the character that WWE decided to hot shot him to a match for the Universal Championship against Raw's top babyface at the time, then-champion Seth Rollins.
Now, in a normal match, there would have been plenty of ways to run this match-up and keep the title on Rollins, while still having Bray Wyatt looking strong in the end: a DQ finish or a double-countout are just two ways that spring to mind. The problem is, WWE didn't book this as a normal match.
WWE put Rollins vs Wyatt in a Hell In a Cell for some reason
The PPV this match took place on was that year's WWE Hell In a Cell event - which means this match was going to have to be a (wait for it) Hell In a Cell match. Which means those two endings are immediately moot. So, what do you do?
Well, you simply have Bray Wyatt win the match. What else can you do? Any other solution is just plain dumb. WWE went for the dumb solution.
During the match, Rollins threw everything he could at Wyatt. He hit The Fiend with his Stomp finisher eleven times - and even threw a Pedigree in there for good measure. Wyatt kicked out at one after nearly every single one. Rollins would use chairs, ladders, even a toolbox - anything he could get his hands on. And Rollins had to fight to get to that point, too.
It's not as if Wyatt didn't get any offense in - on the contrary, up until a certain point, Wyatt gave as much as he got, nailing Rollins with a giant mallet and hitting his Sister Abigail finisher.
Then, came the ending. With Wyatt laying in the middle of the ring, covered in chairs, ladders, and who know what else, Rollins produced a sledgehammer from under the ring. With the referee pleading with him to put the hammer down, Rollins could do the only sensible thing a babyface like him could do. He put the hammer down. Right on top of all the garbage piled up on top of Wyatt.
Apparently fearing for Bray Wyatt's life at this point, the referee called for the bell, essentially ending in a No Contest. In a Hell In a Cell match. The only thing that would have made this ending more absurd is if Rollins had been disqualified - which clearly isn't supposed to happen in a match like this. But, neither was how the match actually ended, either.
Fans were furious, openly booing the result and chanting for "refunds" and "AEW", as well as some other choice words we're not going to print here. #CancelWWENetwork became a trending topic on Twitter and it would go one to "win" numerous "Worst Match of the Year" awards from numerous wrestling publications.
The WWE Draft took place the next week, with Wyatt going to SmackDown and Rollins to Raw. However, they had one more title match to get through - a Falls Count Anywhere match in Saudi Arabia at WWE Crown Jewel. The match had an additional stipulation that it "could not be stopped for any reason." That bout had a much more satisfying ending, with the show ending on the image of The Fiend holding aloft his fairly won WWE Universal Championship.
Which is probably the ending they should have done in the first place.
What other match endings disappointed you the most? Let us hear it in the comments below!
